Fun at the Fair

 

I really did not want to get up yesterday for the Fair.  My alarm was set for 5.30 but in the event, Alfie woke me at 4 a.m. for food, then wanted to go out at 4.15.  I didn't sleep after that.  The first part of the journey was in the dark, but it gradually lightened.  I don't enjoy driving at night nowadays.

Despite there being a steady footfall, by late morning I had only sold two things, and vowed never to do this Fair again!  Gradually it improved though, and we had two lovely young men who were having their own Bargain Hunt challenge, to spend I think it was £150 each, and putting what they bought in auction.  I wish them well.  There was some cheerful banter as they perused our stalls.  Our little group are good friends and at the end of the day, the couple at the end (newbies here) helped ferry all my heavy boxes downstairs and then Tom and partner who do all the heavy lifting, carried them out to the car for me.  Socially I love this Fair, even though much of the time incomings only just cover the cost of doing it. Copper seemed to be on trend yesterday . . . I dressed the French fish kettle with 4 little Cyclamens (it looked lovely) and put it front of house, and it sold early on. No interest in my mirror, so I will ask Ed to help me hang it in the guest bedroom.

I didn't realize that when my card payment provider changed this year, I would have to register my bank details all over again, and when I checked on getting home, a small but handy sum had amassed in my account and will be transferred in the next couple of days. A relief to have money coming in instead of it all going the other way. It was nice to be told by a potter that I had chosen some interesting ceramics too.  Not even a second glance at the little teddy chair . . . which was disappointing. 

Everyone tries so hard to put on a show with their stands at this little Fair.  Here is a glimpse at other stands:

I should imagine that the Black Swan taxidermy is very hard to pack around. The porker too!

Lots of French things here.  Some of the dealers were discussing going to Belgian markets for their stock . . .  I was thinking, their profit margins must be slim?!!  You'd have to treat it as a holiday.

Dolls for Lizzie On The Beach.   The two little ones below are Baby Jesus figures from nativity scenes (French).  

I am glad I have a rest for two months now.  I will slowly unpack today.  Tomorrow I have my appointment with the Specialist at LLandod hospital.  The stye has started healing properly since the antibiotics, but the new eye drops the G|P gave me are useless at night.  I need the thicker ones like the Hycosan gel from the Opticians.  I'd rather not have to buy them though.  

I will try and do a little bit of an Autumn tidy in the garden.  It looks better for the lawn having been cut last week, and the gardener is coming back to do the two triangles for me and the hedge as well.  Then upstairs to crack on with the curtains.  I cut and sewed several dozen pairs of squares on Friday and will assemble them into bigger blocks today.

The dilemma of food or fuel (diesel that is)

First off, I forgot to mention I was very glad to see that Blogger has finally pulled it's finger out and sorted the blog postings so we are back to as it should be.

The heading reflects what was truly the choice this week, as with the price of diesel up to £2 a litre, and all my journeys long ones - two to Tam in this past week, at around £20 a time, Llandeilo tomorrow for the fair, that's 38 miles each way; the Unit last week 70 miles each way, which is why I tacked on the extra bit to go on to St Dogmaels rather than have a separate day out in the opposite direction. I haven't been to do a proper grocery shop, just picked up a couple of things I needed at Co-op - and I try not to shop at Co-op if I can.  Yesterday I had to buy a pint of milk (remains of last pint were a week out of date) and I bought bananas to go with my granola.  I had wanted raspberries to make the plain yoghurt I also bought, but at £2.50 for about 4 oz, I wasn't doing that. Today I need a couple of bread rolls for lunch at the Fair tomorrow.  I shall use chicken as the filling, and some salad.  I have two bananas a bit too ripe for me to enjoy so they will go into Chocolate Banana Muffins.

Food prices are getting ridiculous.  I was happy to pay £4 for 6 large cod fish fingers at Tesco's but those have now shot up to £4.75.  I have Kedgeree regularly, but smoked cod has now gone up from around £4.50 to £6.50 - that is a BIG hit.  Simple cans of soup - I can remember paying just 60p for Batchelors condensed chicken soup for pies - probably 8 yrs ago say.  It is now £1.50 a tin.  Ordinary soup, the good Heinz sort, is £1.59 a tin, or 5 for £5, which shows you the profit margin.  I invested in five tins last time I went shopping as I don't always want to make a vat of soup at home and eat it every day for a week!  I can still afford 2 raw chicken breast portions at £2.67 and make them go a long way.  I don't often buy salmon portions, but when did a smallish (212g) tin of salmon become £3.80?  Corned beef used to be something I bought regularly for Keith, who liked corned beef hash (pass, not for me).  It was a cheap meal but now at £3.50 a tin - and I saw a small tin at £4.10 in Tesco recently - it's becoming haute cuisine!  Even the loathed Spam from childhood is £3.50 a tin.

The humble potato, reinvented in crisp form, has to show the best profit margins out there, retailing at £2.50 a bag for what is probably not much more than one large potato.  Very few packets are cheaper unless on an offer.  I buy peanuts at 59p a bag.  More protein.

So, for the past couple of weeks I have been living largely out of the freezer and storecupboard, and the chicken I roasted on Monday has done 3 meals so far, a whole breast left, and carcase for soup, and 3 portions of curry with veg in the fridge.  2 will be frozen.  

This is why I try and buy most of my groceries in Aldi, and only things like Twinings Earl Grey teabags, cat food, etc in Tesco's.  Basically anything I need that Aldi don't stock.  Easy to be led astray though.

I have apples from my trees now, and have been given a goodly supply of cooking apples to store.  In the freezer, I have blackberries and elderberries which were free.  Soft fruit off the menu now unless I buy a bag of frozen, which go a long way. I had several small cucumbers from the polytunnel this week and a bag of the yellow cherry tomatoes which have been frozen (toms not cucumbers :)

Eggs, I use mainly for baking, and they are £1.85 or so for 6 medium free range eggs.  I prefer the ones from the butchers (Clun eggs).  

I am fortunate to have a full freezer and well stocked storecupboard to fall back when leaner times hit.  Once I am out of the Unit, there is only one more Fair this year, and I won't be going much further than Llandod.  Time to blow the dust off my bus pass if I fancy going out somewhere - though the destinations not terrifically exciting.  Will have to see if I can get to Cardiff in reasonable time to meet up with Gabby/go to the Museum and Art Gallery.  They changed the T bus time table which could get you to Cardiff, and then there was a lengthy break at Merthyr which made people travelling for work pretty put out.  I will perhaps have an outing on the Heart of Wales line train as that is free with my bus pass, over the winter months.

Sorry, woffling now.  Got lots done yesterday but my back complaining after I loaded several boxes of china into the car . . . I will have to be careful today.

 Update: All loaded.  I have decided to part with my lovely Arts and Crafts mirror as there is nowhere to hang it here.  I hope someone falls in love with it as we did.  I have really lost the enjoyment for Fairs right now.  The thought of getting up at 5.30 tomorrow doesn't thrill me either.

When EVERYTHING goes wrong

 You couldn't make it up, the week poor Tam has just had to endure.  I will start at the beginning.  Last week Jon was ill with a really high temperature and in bed asleep all day on Thursday.  Temperature better the next day, when I was over.  I stayed half the day and looked after Rosie and he came down mid-afternoon and sat with her.  Tam's car had shown brake problems first thing so she had to use Jon's car, and hers was towed away to the garage, but wouldn't be seen until the following Wednesday as they were so busy.  J still unwell Saturday, when Tam could feel herself coming down with it, and Rosie had something too, but neither had the high temp.  Sunday Jon had to go into work as they were short-staffed, but was talking all day and his throat was awful.  

Last week they had builders in where Tam works, but they seem to have been remarkably cack-handed and water started coming through the ceilings into the archive rooms.  Only Tam and a.n.other in so they had to remove boxes of documents, and this happened on Monday and Tuesday too - she was feeling really rough but spent two days moving boxes and then bundles of documents.  The boxes were not light.  With her long-standing health problem and broken nights, you will realize she was running on empty.  On Monday, Jon's car broke down when she reached the child-minders, where it still is as they didn't have the documents for it as it's still in Jon's mum's name (it was her car) and she's in Spain. Tam had to rely on friends and work colleagues to provide transport.

Tuesday night Jon was very ill, hadn't been able to swallow much and then nothing at all, could barely speak and throat very swollen.  I was concerned and told her to phone 111 and asked if she had a straw in the house.

So, poor Tam stuck there with no transport. At 10.30 p.m. OOH Doc said for J to go in, pronto, and they had to spend £34 they could ill afford on a taxi to get him to Aber hospital.  He has Laryngitis very badly, and was given antibiotics, steroids and a throat spray.  Then, the neighbour who said he would go and pick him up, fell asleep and couldn't be contacted, and Jon watched it start to pour with rain as he waited for his prescription to be filled.  Tam phoned taxi company after taxi company until she finally got one who would drop Jon off at his mum's as he was going home for the night.  It was around 2 a.m. at this point.

Tam was meant to phone the OOH GP if there was any change for the worse, but of course didn't know what the state of play was as Jon wasn't there but in Aber and she spent what remained of the night worrying if Jon was still alive every time that Rosie woke her - which was often as SHE had very bad localised infection they thought was fungal, but cream didn't work after two days. (Think localised nappy rash).  Oh and she's cutting her last molars too.

So, Jen to the rescue yesterday as no way could Tam get Rosie to the GP in town (only 3 buses a day and she had to wait until the Receptionist phoned back and told her if she had an appt. in the afternoon).  No way to get Jon home as friend working. Tam was absolutely wiped out.  I took her a patisserie fruit pie (she asked for one but I was going to take her one anyway), and I knew she hadn't been able to afford wine that week so took her a bottle, and a couple of my little cucumbers.  She was SO glad to see me.  Just to have someone to share the worry with - and the washing up!  It took me over an hour of solidly washing up, drying and stacking as she hadn't been able to tackle it for days.  I peeled and chopped the spuds for the Cottage Pie she was planning for tea.  I have my uses!  Then I took them in to the GP's, we liaised with Jon, went to pick up her car which had been fixed two days earlier but they had the wrong phone number for her!  

I finally got home just after 7 and the cats were very pleased to see me.  I too had wine last night - reckoned I had earned it!  I watched the Great Pottery Showdown and in the car, podcasts were the 100 years war again, which I really enjoyed as there is such a camaraderie between Tom and Dom and plenty of laughter - the thought of the Welsh longbowmen shedding their trousers because they had been standing around so long and needed to poo where they stood!!!  Then going into battle thus unclad!

So, a week from hell that you couldn't make up.  Everything that could go wrong, went wrong, but hopefully that is behind them now and that Jon's car can be recovered soon and the bill not too much. 

Today I have a walk planned, some gardening and packing some of the boxes for Saturday's Fair, and then some patchwork after lunch. 

Ta-dah moment

 

The tiny teddy chair was such a mess- dull grey flaking paint - that I decided to rub it down and paint it today.  It was almost the last of the Johnson's French Chiffon paint so I will have to buy another can, as it is quick drying and has no aroma.

This is how it looked before - grubby and unappealing.  

I also sewed more of my first bathroom curtain, and that is looking good.  You can see the colours more clearly in this photo than the one I took the other day.

I got out for a walk earlier on.  As you can see it was quite misty.  I went up the steep hill, to try and improve my peak flow, which has dropped because of not being able to walk much this summer.

The eye drops are helping my eye but I want to see the pit which held the stye disappear completely.  It's not as sore looking as it was anyway.

I was out of bread today, so made a tasty loaf 1/2 and 1/2 with the Cotswold Crunch granary type flour.

So, not a great deal happening.  I picked some of the apples from the orchard - the birds are having a good time out there and lots pecked at.  I picked the cucumbers too and will empty the pots tomorrow as everything has died back in the polytunnel.

Off to watch another episode of Apocalypse now (Channel 4).  I am enjoying that.

Today's podcasts on Henry V, and the Hundred Years War - a different version to the 4 Hundred Years War podcasts I listened to a couple of weeks ago.  

Treat Day . . .

 

This was my special Brunch today.  There must be a Blue Moon tonight because that is the only time I have one of these pattiserie fruit pies.  Scrummy!

I phoned the Doctors' surgery first thing and got an appointment to have my eye checked.  She gave me a prescription for antibiotic drops, 4 times a day for 5 days.  My eye feels a little easier already and the discomfort in my tear duct and top of ??sinuses, has gone. She said it didn't present as an SCC so I think my appt. at the local Minor Injuries next week may be a waste of their time, but I will know for sure.

I remembered to roast my chicken today and really enjoyed my meal, especially the roasties which I haven't had more than once since Christmas!

A cheat's chicken gravy made at the last minute, with some Chicken gravy thickener and boiling water.  This was a big meal for me!

This is a little cushion for the tiny teddy chair I bought recently.  I have decided the ancient grey paint shabby chic look is not doing it any favours, so I will paint it white tomorrow to cheer it up a bit.  These were all (apart from the central square) little bits of Liberty fabrics I bought a bag of at Malvern last year.  They were lovely to work with.

I have been cutting fabrics for the curtains too, and unpicking the deep blue from the blocks for Rosie's quilt, and have replaced it on two with the mid blue I got at Calico Kate's.  Off to unpick the others now.

Today's podcast was about Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot, and on Saturday I had epic listenings about King Arthur and Tintagel; Stonehenge, ancient ritual an the origins of paganism; and a.n.other.

St Thomas' Church, St Dogmaels and the Sagranus Stone

 

I have to say the attitude of this ancient stone has not improved since I last visited, and it has a distinctly unpleasant vibe.  We were last there in 2018. 

A 9th - 10th C cross stem.

A lightly engraved Maltese Cross design on this early Christian monument, which dates back to 9th - 10th C.

Nearly all the memorials to local men (mariners) in the church, attested death by drowning . . .  They sailed very dangerous seas.  Cardigan was once an incredibly busy port. 

Pensacola is in Florida.

 

One of the many headstones outside testifying more mariner deaths at sea.  

Someone was a dab hand with this patchwork wallhanging of the Three Wise Men.

A general view of the church interior.

A beautiful painted Reredos above the alter.

A more modern take on Biblical stories in this stained glass window.

Finally, the font.

Outside are the remains of St Dogmael's Abbey, which must have been stunning before the Dissolution of the Monasteries.  Henry VIII had a lot to answer for.

Our kids used to love wobbling along the top of these walls.

Here you go, Sue in Suffolk.  The lovely old Mill.  Rose has had a good pruning though.

This was taken in 2014.

That teeny tiny window on the cottage beside the Mill.

And again, in 2014 . . .

I hope you have had a pleasant weekend.